The primary problem was not knowing how to make the sandal pattern. Out of the two of us, I’m more artistic so we decided, I’d work on developing the pattern. We found a caligae pattern online, but it was much narrower than Ryan’s foot. So we traced out his feet and then I did my best to modify the pattern to stretch to the size of his foot. It wasn’t the worst way of doing it, I just have no experience making shoes so I didn’t know that it’s better to have the pattern fit snug rather than leaving it loose. I’m used to working with apparel and needing to leave a bit of wiggle room for getting clothes on and off and for being able to…ya know… breathe.

We learned a new technique from our friends Dean and Tricia for a doing shoe patterns. Essentially, you wrap your foot in duct tape, cut it off your foot, draw the design onto the duct tape, cut that out, and finally trace the duct tape pattern onto a piece of  card stock. It seems to be a much more efficient and accurate way to make a pattern and I’m hoping ours have a better fit this time.

Here are photos of the two styles we’re making, in the duct tape phase. . .

Roman Military Boots:

Woman’s Roman Sandals:

I’ll post an update once we get them cut out of leather.

I got up super early (5am), did yoga for about a half hour, cut out the pieces to a shirt I planned to sew, made “eggy-in-a basket” with bacon for breakfast, repaired a hole in a t-shirt, worked on a pair of leg warmers I’m knitting, sewed the shirt I cut out earlier, worked on my website, made coleslaw, and now I’m blogging! And it’s only 4:30! Yay me!

I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for GETTING SHIT DONE since I tend to be a glass-is-half-empty sort of person and will focus on what I didn’t accomplish, rather than all the things I did. I want to know how productive (or not-productive) you were today! I don’t know what get’s us in this kind of mood, but we need more of it, whatever it is.

Here are some photos from my day. . .

With the launch of my improved art and design portfolio website coming up in a few months, I’ve been taking photos of various pieces of art I want to display. However, not all of it is on paper or canvas; I also do graphic design and t-shirt logos, but those are boring if I just post the graphic. I feel the visual appeal of a graphic design is much more eye-catching when you see it in it’s intended context and on the product it’s meant for. So, I decided to photograph some of the graphic t-shirts I designed as well as model the shirts myself since I have experience as an apparel model. The problem with this of course, is I then need someone else to do the photography.

"Slinky" by Josh Miller

No worries though, because I already had someone in mind. Josh Miller is a budding new photographer and looking at Josh’s photo portfolio you can see the majority of his photography experience has been with landscapes and various scenery [see right example]. More recently though, he has expressed interest in portrait photography. We both saw this as a great opportunity for him to gain experience and for me to get back into practice with modeling [in addition to getting some great shots for my website].

Josh didn’t have anywhere specific he wanted to do the shoot, and let me pick a location. I had a spot in mind I’ve been wanting to do a photo shoot at ever since I moved to Portland…Waterfront Park. I was only looking for some interesting landscapes to use as backgrounds and I thought the bridges, boats and water would be suitable for a simple t-shirt.

This photo shoot made me realize exactly how long it’s been since I last modeled [more than a year...hence the title]. Firstly, I was having a TERRIBLE hair day and had to go with a messy bun, but additionally I felt really awkward posing…

…it was like sitting down to a fancy dinner with 2 dozen utensils on either side of my plate and no idea of what to do first, resulting in me hovering my hands around awkwardly and indecisively about what to do while at the same time trying not look like I don’t know what I’m doing…

So, I’m a bit rusty, but overall the shoot went well. Josh was great, I enjoyed shooting with him and we got some excellent shots. More of them would have been usable if only my hair had behaved. Oh Well! More shoots with different t-shirts [and a better hairdo] to come!

…For those of you who don’t know, Crooked Brook is a design label used by the Broad Street Studio’s art division [and I'm sure this still means nothing to you, but I promise there is a point to this post]. Crooked Brook is known around the world for their high-quality, custom-made chef apparel, made in the USA [That's the United States of America, not United South Asia] They also offer a wide selection of custom embroidered apparel…

I modeled an array of chef coats, hoodies, hats, and polo shirts, learned tips and techniques to improve my modeling skills and how to get the perfect shot to impress anyone, whether they’re shopping for a chef coat or not.

While I was visiting the studio, Pam showed me a link to one of their customer’s blogs. Apparently I did something right modeling their coats because Jason Sandeman was convinced to participate in a Chef Coat Giveaway with Crooked Brook after seeing this photo of me [left] on Crooked Brook’s site.

The reason I’m sharing this is because I was absolutely shocked [in a good way] by how Jason described the photo. His exact words were, “…she’s the one who sold me on it! I love the attitude. The Fuck-You-My-Bearnaise-is-Perfect-and-I’ll-cut-your-balls-off-if-you-touch-it kind of attitude. That’s what will get her in the door.” You can read Jason’s full post about the chef coat giveaway on his blog ”Well Done Chef!” and also get some really great cooking tips, advice on eating right, recipes and perhaps some more chef coat giveaways with Crooked Brook!

I admit I have a tendency to not smile in many photos, but the fact that he worded it that way makes me chuckle every time I read it because it’s not the first time I’ve been told I look like I’ll become violent if you so much as look at me wrong. Here are a few examples of my modeling work with the studio…

Despite the fact that I’m blogging about it and have a modeling portfolio page on my website, my modeling history isn’t exactly something I flaunt. I’m a rather modest person to begin with and having people look at me is a tad awkward though I suppose it’s just a medium I would have to get used to if I choose to pursue it. At any rate, I guess I have a very distinct style that say’s, “don’t fuck with me!” [hence the "Kerrminator" title] So, if there is anyone out there looking for a pissed-off-looking model, contact me! HAHA!

Gifts Galore!

As much as I’d like to make all my gifts for everyone, I just don’t have the time. However, I do try to make something for at least a couple people for either birthdays or Christmas. I had been planning on making some sort of wind chime using some metal disks I purchased from Doyle Hardware in Utica, NY before it closed a few years ago. They were practically giving stuff away to clear out the store and my mom and I scoured the back rooms for interesting things to use in art projects. Needless to say, we came across tons of interesting metal bits and bobs, but that’s a hole other story entirely.

The point is, I finally made a wind chime with my brother in mind. He records a lot of random sounds to create music with and each year I find it simpler to make him a gift. So far I’ve made him a ceramic ocarina, gave him a collection of weird sounds, made woven fabric canvases that make an interesting drum sound when wet and now the wind chime. I still have no idea what the metal disks are actually for, but I think they got put to good use and I still have plenty more to make another.

In addition to my brother’s gift, I also made my ‘manfriend’ a gift for Christmas in the form of a website. Ryan is an aspiring actor and had mentioned previously that it would be nice to have his own website. So, I created a site for him to display his acting resume, past and current head shots, modeling portfolio, and other miscellaneous skills. You can view his acting website, ryannoel.com, to have a look at his skills and [obviously] see the site I designed. My web building skills are improving as we speak, and I’d like to eventually update his to be more modern and fresh, but it’ll do for now.

A few other gifts I’ve made in the past year include a frame and custom matting for Ryan’s most current head-shot, a portrait of a bald eagle for my dad and a portrait of three friends for their birthdays. The bald eagle portrait is actually an interesting piece because I painted it on a cross section of a tree my dad cut down at the Bronx Zoo over 30 years ago. I don’t have a photo of it yet, but I’ll update this post once I get one.

Thumbtack.com

In my last blog post I mentioned joining a site called Thumbtack.com. I got one project through them so far, which is more than I expected since I was given a lead shortly after joining. A woman contacted me wanting a memorial pet portrait of a dog named Missie. Missie had died and the woman ordering the drawing was having it made for a friend of hers who the dog belonged to. I posted a few updates of the drawing on my facebook page as I was working on it. Friend me on facebook and be in touch when I have updates on new art projects and blog posts!

P.A.N.T.S.

P.A.N.T.S. is an acronym for People Acting Not Too Seriously. P.A.N.T.S. is the improv comedy group of Portland Community College and Ryan, is a member of the group. “What does this have to do with anything,” you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! I have been practicing my stage photography at their performances and recording clips occasionally so that the members can watch it to improve themselves as well as for them to post on their facebook page to attract potential patrons. In addition to the photography I do for the group I also created a logo for them which they use on their handbills and had printed on t-shirts.

Art For Sale!

It’s a little disappointing to have art sitting around, not being seen by people. Ideally, I would like to have my art in galleries, but personally I don’t feel that I have many pieces worth displaying to the general public. However, there are some pieces that I’m especially proud of.

It wasn’t until the end of my senior year and about a year after graduation that I started to create some really great works. I have to admit though, not having a ‘destination’ for a piece makes me rather unmotivated. What I mean is, when I was in high school I was creating not only for grades, but local competitions. Now it seems like I only get really involved in a piece if it’s FOR someone else or it’s a commission. I haven’t created something entirely for myself in a long time. I want to keep growing as an artist, but motivation is key.

One of those drawings I did [after high school] was a commissioned colored pencil drawing of four Harley Davidson Motorcycles which I have featured on my website. I have giclee prints of the motorcycle drawing available for purchase. [I had them up on ebay for a while, but you can contact me directly if you're interested.]

In addition to the motorcycle prints, I also have several dozen hand crafted ceramic whistles looking for homes. I made them a few years ago and just haven’t done much with them. My intentions were to sell them at craft fairs, but I simply haven’t had the time. Each is different in size, pitch and glazing and there is a current listing for the clay whistles on ebay.

So, that pretty much sums up what I’ve been doing the last few months.

You can check out my freelance artist, designer and illustrator page on Thumbtack.com and if you are a past client, please feel free to leave feedback by writing a review.

Freelance Artist, Designer & Illustrator

The site is currently lacking a lot of content to say the least and I’d be more than grateful for feedback of it’s current state so I can take the flaws you see into consideration. I’m trying to get away from solely keeping it up as an online display of my portfolio and instead use it as a combination network, store, portfolio and information hub. It has been difficult planning a way to combine all these things into one logical site and make sure the information flows nicely so people are able to see the relevance in everything, but I’m up to the challenge!

I’m working in a different genre of creativity and it has taken me away from the real ‘meat’ of my creativity which is my art, but the way I figure it is, I need to be able to promote my art effectively and the best way to do that is to create an authoritative website. Being one of those people who hates to half-ass things, I’m putting all my attention into making this worth my while, then I can get back to ‘arting’.

What do you think is more important, creating art or building a website to help sell the art?

If you would like to subscribe to my blog, you can do so by entering your email address in the email subscription field on the left and you can also send a request to me personally at art@thekerrminator.com to receive an email notification when my new website is launched.

I struggled to get it dried on time and it was still a bit tacky when I brought it to the show. My mistake was choosing to use oils rather than acrylics. An oil painting should take 6-12 months to dry thoroughly and I had to complete it in less than a month. I don’t think I even started painting until maybe 2 weeks before the show date so I was asking for trouble. I blow dried the hell out of it, but that was barely making a dent. I researched online to see if anyone knew any techniques or sprays I could use to get the oil to dry faster. To make a long story short, I ended up baking it in the oven….probably not the best thing for the oven or the painting, but I got it dry enough so I could at least spray some varnish on it. Then I blow dried it some more and set it in front of a fan for a few hours, but like I said it was still a bit tacky.

I attended the Portland show and was able to get my painting signed by the band and had my picture taken with them.

The painting didn’t sell that night so, I had the option to either take it back or have it go on to the other shows on the tour. I decided to let it go on because I figured even if it doesn’t sell and I have to pay for it to get shipped back to me, there is the potential for a lot of exposure.

To my surprise and satisfaction, it did sell. A guy in Ramona, California bought it (left) and here he’s posing with one of the group members, Mark Jansen (right).

The only part I’m not too happy about is the fact that I never really got a decent photo of it. I took some shots, but I couldn’t get the proper lighting and since the paint was still a bit glossy, I kept getting glares over large sections. On the plus side, I sold another piece of art and I’m getting my name out there, which is definitely a good thing.

One of the latest projects he finished; A pair of Roman Caligae.

I helped make the pattern which we based off another pattern Ryan found on the internet.

Next Ryan cut out the leather using the pattern. He stayed up for hours cutting with a little exacto knife after I went to bed. I’d wake up the next morning, look at how much he did and ask, “So, exactly how late did you stay up last night?”

After the pieces were cut out, they got oiled and in the next picture, Ryan is poking holes along the back seam where it will get stitched up.

A lot of the time he would work faster than I could photograph the process so, in this picture he is stitching the sole on and you can see the back piece of leather that got stitched over the back seam.

I didn’t take a picture yet of the hob nails, but this is the finished pair. I skipped a few steps mostly because he was working too fast, but you can check out other sites online with a more detailed explanation of the steps you need to take if you ever decide you need a pair of your own.

In the end, the pattern ended up being a bit too big, and the hob nails didn’t all go in straight due to a variety of factors (off center shanks, lack a proper anvil for doing shoes, first time making a pair, ie. trial and error). The next time he needs to make a pair we’ll have a better idea of what needs to be done and there’s the all important part of knowing what NOT to do. All in all, they turned out pretty good considering it was his first pair.

At any rate, I’m going to keep submitting to these things while I have the time even if I never win. One of the worst things an artist can do is stagnate and that’s something I tend to do when I don’t have something to work on. Of course it helps when there are deadlines, people relying on me finishing the project and monetary incentives.

My latest submission is a movie poster design for Tiffany Shlain’s latest documentary called Connected. You can check out the site to read a detailed explanation, but it’s a documentary and this is the poster idea I submitted.

Voting starts in about 8 days and I’m hoping this time I can get into the finals. If you like my design, please go to my submission page and vote for me! If you are going to forget in 8 days, click on the “support” button and you’ll be reminded to vote.

More submissions to come!